Chapter 26: Common development of agriculture and commerce!
"Your Highness, I am innocent. Even if you give me ten heads, I would not dare to embezzle money!"
"Your Majesty, water conservancy is not just about digging a ditch. More than half of the national treasury has been allocated for disaster relief."
"The Huns are invading, and a lot of money has been allocated to the Ministry of War. Now it's time for the court to pay salaries, and the remaining silver is not enough!"
Xiao Yan knew that he could not do much by confiscating the silver this time, but he did not expect that these two major events would empty the national treasury again.
Even the salaries of officials could not be paid.
"Okay, I wrongly blamed you for this, but you also have responsibilities. As the Minister of Revenue, you don't know how to make money. This is also incompetence!"
Liu Zhenghui knew that he was lucky that Xiao Yan did not hold a grudge against him for the last incident, so he could only shut up to avoid being punished.
"Everyone, you are all responsible for the current situation of our Great Zhou. Now let's talk about how to solve this matter?"
As soon as Xiao Yan's words came out, all the ministers started talking about it. This matter was not easy to resolve.
"Your Highness, the only way now is to collect more taxes, otherwise the continuous deficit in the national treasury will sooner or later cause trouble."
"Now that the people are wealthy, why not collect some head taxes? This way, the national treasury can collect a large sum of money."
Hearing this, Xiao Yan's eyes became extremely cold.
"Master Prime Minister, you are truly a good official of our dynasty!"
"Thank you for your praise, Your Highness. This is what I should do!"
Bang!
Xiao Yan slammed the table and stood up.
"Do you think I'm praising you?"
"Do you think I don't know what the people of my Great Zhou are like? The Jinyiwei are not blind."
"The people are having trouble even getting enough food, and you're so shameless as to tell me that the people are still wealthy?"
"You only know how to exploit the people? If the people don't even have food to eat, what do you think you will do? What would you do if you were a commoner?"
These three soul-searching questions left Hu Zhenghe at a loss for words.
"My dear ministers, the reason why our Great Zhou was able to be established was because the previous dynasty exploited the people too harshly."
"We can't do that with excessive taxes and levies!"
"Have you forgotten so quickly?"
"When prosperity comes, the people suffer; when decline comes, the people suffer!"
"No matter what, the people will suffer, and this will eventually send our Great Zhou into an abyss!"
Hu Zhenghe frowned upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "When did he come up with such an opinion?"
"Your Highness, this is the only way to fill the treasury. Otherwise, where can we get the money?"
How could Hu Zhenghe not know the disadvantages of this matter? Only in this way can he have a chance. If he can really make this matter clear, then the people of the world will rise up and his chance will come.
"You are short-sighted. Exploiting the people is like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. It is not advisable!"
"I have a suggestion, please listen to it!"
"I want to ask you, what is the fastest way to make money in this world?"
Upon hearing this, all the officials began to think. How could one make money quickly through legitimate means? All the ways to make money quickly were written in the laws of the Great Zhou.
Just as the officials were thinking about it, a voice came from the palace gate.
"Your Highness, the only legitimate way to make money quickly is through business. It's easy to make money by buying and selling, and it's easy and quick!"
Xiao Yan looked in the direction of the voice and found that he was actually a minor official of the fifth rank.
"good, very good!"
" Business is the fastest way to make money, but are businessmen subject to tax?"
Liu Zhenghui said quickly: "Your Highness, heavy taxes on businessmen will suppress the development of commerce and allow more people to farm, so that there will be more food."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan shook his head.
"No!"
"Scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans are all members of the class. Merchants have a low status and low income, so naturally no one wants to do business."
"And there are heavy taxes, so naturally there will be no success in business."
Hu Zhenghe seemed to understand what Xiao Yan meant.
"Your Highness, do you want to develop business?"
"This is absolutely not allowed. If everyone gets something for nothing through commercial development, who would want to grow food?"
Xiao Yan shook his head and said, "Let me ask you, if there were no merchants in this world, how would goods and money circulate?"
"Even if everyone in the world were to farm, how much would the yield increase?"
"There are already enough people farming, it's just a matter of yield."
Hu Zhenghe didn’t know what Xiao Yan was going to do, but he knew it was definitely not a good thing for him.
"I have ordered that from now on, the heavy taxes on merchants will be abolished and one-tenth of their earnings will be collected as taxes."
“At the same time, merchants are allowed to circulate throughout the country and conduct commercial activities.”
"In addition, we encourage the people to reclaim wasteland. Whoever reclaims the land will have the right to use it. In addition, the newly reclaimed wasteland will be exempted from taxes for three years, and all the income will belong to the people."
Liu Zhenghui didn't quite understand the connection between them.
"Your Highness, we are short of money right now. Even if the people have newly reclaimed land, we still cannot collect taxes!"
"It will take three years before taxes can be collected on new land, which is not enough to solve the urgent problem!"
Xiao Yan shook his head. He really didn't understand what he said.
"How short-sighted! Are you still counting on collecting taxes from the people to fill the treasury?"
"My intention is to encourage the development of both commerce and agriculture."
"Merchants will naturally flourish if they can make a profit. One-tenth of the tax may not seem like much, but don't forget, this is not collected from just one person!"
"There are so many merchants in the world. As long as taxes are collected, prices will naturally come down, and the circulation of money will be greater."
"One tenth is collected for each circulation. Can you imagine how much this is?"
When these words were spoken, all the ministers were dumbfounded. Why had they not thought of this?
Previously, business was suppressed and few people were interested in buying due to high prices.
If the price is low, people will naturally spend money on it, which will speed up the circulation of money, so that the court can collect taxes from it.
This is definitely much more than the heavy taxes collected before.
In this way, the treasury will naturally be filled.
The people reclaimed a large amount of wasteland, so there were fewer people farming, but more land was planted, which greatly increased the people's enthusiasm for farming.
In this way, grain production will not only not decrease, but may even increase, killing two birds with one stone.
After thinking it through, the officials' views on Xiao Yan changed again. It seemed that the previous rumors were completely false.
"Your Highness is wise!"
All the officials knelt down immediately!
Even Hu Zhenghe had to admire Xiao Yan's proposal. If it continued for a long time, it might really raise the strength of the Great Zhou to a higher level.
At this moment, Hu Zhenghe's sense of crisis had never been so strong. It seemed that he had to speed up his plan, otherwise, when Xiao Yan had completely consolidated his foundation, he would be powerless to turn the situation around.
"Xiao Yan, why are you so outstanding?"
